


The Clever Tailor

by Ameliapll



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Canon Typical Violence, Historical AU, M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, Tags to be added, fuck the rathaways, hartley needs a hug, implied sexual scene, insp: the clever tailor, it gets worse before it gets bettter, poor Hartley, poor axel, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 19:11:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11996169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ameliapll/pseuds/Ameliapll
Summary: "The haughty prince married the clever tailor"In which Hartley's the prince of a small country, and he sends out a riddle for hopefully marriage prospects. Only one got it correct.Axel Walker, the boy who worked as a tailor.





	1. Prologue

It was well known that the prince, Hartley Rathaway, was a haughty and superior man. Many whispered that it had to do with him being so open about his desire for a husband.

Some felt poorly for him: the king and queen could not disown him for fear they would not have another son, but they could malign him. Many whispered about how small he was and wondered whether the king and queen would starve him.

Others considered Hartley to deserve whatever fate would rest on his shoulders. He did not have the best temper, and considered him to be superior to everybody else in the kingdom, especially the tailors.

It happened on a spring summer’s day.

“Mother, father,” Hartley said, clear as day. “The time has come for me to wed. Now, I don’t want to marry just anyone. I need to have someone as clear-minded and clever as I, or I cannot be wed to them.”

“What do you suggest?” Osgood asked, his tone sharp as ice.

“I shall send out a riddle. It will not be a simple riddle. Anyone who would like to claim me as a husband must correctly solve this riddle, or I shall not have them,”

“I suppose that’s fair,” said Osgood reluctantly, his wife nodding by his side. It was humiliating to have a son as scandalising as Hartley, but Osgood would have to put up with it for now.

“I shall send it out,” Hartley replied, bowing his head.

The riddle was made public, and all suitable were to perform the riddle for Hartley.

Jesse industries, a tailor manufacturer, included some men who were eager to take the riddle.

  
“If we are to wed the prince, surely we will get a great deal of money,” Clyde Mardon exclaimed.

“Yes. And since we both work so hard, I am sure we will win the prince's hand in marriage,” his elder brother Mark proclaimed. A third tailor entered the shop, smaller and younger than the other two. The other two looked at him and laughed.

“Whatever knowledge we have, I am sure we will beat at least him!” Clyde said.

“Why are you here, Walker?” Mark snapped.

“I heard your conversation and thought I might try my hand at wedding prince Hartley,” Axel Walker replied, puffing his chest forwards.

“You?” Clyde asked, before breaking into peals of laughter. Mark gave him an icy glare.

“You ought to stay home instead. As if the prince would ever marry the likes of you!”  
The two left the room and Axel giggled sadly, the noise calming him.

“Then I guess it would not hurt to try,”


	2. 2

  
Hartley sat high on his throne. He had already rejected many, all of whom were as transparent as water as to why they wished for Hartley: his inheritance. All of whom had failed and been humiliated as response.

“Prince Hartley, may I introduce three of my hardest working boys?” A tailor, James Jesse, asked, bowing at the waist. Hartley had no hopes for this lot of presumably gold-digging men, despite the slight difference in the smallest boys blue eyes. He was well aware of James Jesse’s record for hiring and letting in scrappy criminals from the street.

  
“You may,” Hartley said quietly but not kindly.

“The eldest, Mark Mardon, came to me at eleven, with his younger brother, Clyde.” James gestured to two well dressed men. One had auburn hair, and the other blonde. There was a coldness to their features that made Hartley frown.

  
“I adopted the youngest, Axel, in his earliest years. The man was cruelly abandoned by his father, by his mother too, and I took him in as one of my own,” Hartley peered at the youngest male, so raggedy and underdressed Hartley had to contain his sneer.

  
“Charmed, I'm sure. In any case, I ask my riddle. I have two kinds of hair on my head. Which colours are they?”

“Why, is that it?” Clyde asked. Hartley frowned again. He had put a great deal of effort into making this riddle. “The two colours on your head are black and white, like pepper and salt.”

“You’re aware that you just accused me of going grey. Also, black and white aren’t colours, they’re shades,” Hartley said, injecting a large amount of superiority into his tone. Clyde frowned and stepped back.  
“Number two,”

“The colours on your head,” Mark began, quite nervous after having seen his brothers refusal. “Are plainly red and gold, like the leaves in autumn or my best coat,”

“Wrongly guessed,” Hartley rolled his eyes. Axel, the underdressed one, was biting his lip with a kind of endearing hesitation. “But step back and let the youngest respond, for I see that he clearly known as a great deal more than you.”

“Axel?” Clyde asked. “Why, don’t be ridiculous! All Axel knows is how to tailor and he isn’t very good at that, either!”

Hartley fixed him with an icy glare. “Even if you had guessed the riddle right, your attitude surely would have considered me to seek others beds. You are lucky your brother is somewhat more clever than you, or I would have had you hanged for your insolence,”

Clyde went pale, and stepped out of the way, murmuring apologies.

“The colours on your head are silver and gold,” Axel whispered. “Those are not shades, but two different colours.”

Upon hearing his response, Hartley went pale. He had not genuinely believed this boy would get the riddle. He peered further at Axel who smiled back hesitantly. While he believed that Axel’s heart was good, he still was not sure. He could still just be marrying Hartley for the money. So he prepared a task that no sane man would perform.

“You have done very well, sir. But I am not convinced you wish to marry me for the right reasons, so here is another task, your final one. If you succeed we shall be married next Sunday, but should you fail...You are also not obliged to do it if you don’t wish to.”

“What is the task, prince?” Axel asked, a teasing smile on his features at the word prince. Hartley’s poor heart did a dance at the smile, and he tried to control his features.

“There is a bear in the stables, who harrasses my horses.” Hartley began. “Could you be as so kind as to vanquish the creature?”

Any sane man would say no. Mark and Clyde had begun backing off, the cowards.

Axel Walker beamed brightly at Hartley, bowing.

“Of course!”

Of course it was the complete lunatic he had fallen for. 


End file.
